zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw · error · anyhow::Error

No configured model_providers — run `zeroclaw quickstart` to

Error message

No configured model_providers — run `zeroclaw quickstart` to set one up first

What it means

run_configured_models lists (and with --check verifies) the models declared under model_providers. When configured_model_entries returns an empty set there is nothing to show, so the command aborts and points at zeroclaw quickstart. Note the empty set also arises when a provider filter matches no configured alias, since the filter is applied before the emptiness check.

Source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-runtime/src/doctor/mod.rs:920

        .collect()
}

/// Whether a configured model id appears verbatim in a provider's live catalog.
/// Pure — separated so the membership rule is explicit and unit-testable
/// without any network probe.
fn model_in_catalog(model: &str, catalog: &[String]) -> bool {
    catalog.iter().any(|id| id == model)
}

pub async fn run_configured_models(
    config: &Config,
    provider_override: Option<&str>,
    verify: bool,
) -> Result<()> {
    let entries = configured_model_entries(config, provider_override);

    if entries.is_empty() {
        anyhow::bail!(
            "No configured model_providers — run `zeroclaw quickstart` to set one up first"
        );
    }

    if verify {
        println!("🩺 ZeroClaw — Configured Models (--check)");
    } else {
        println!("🩺 ZeroClaw — Configured Models");
    }
    println!();

    let mut ok = 0usize;
    let mut warn = 0usize;
    let mut error = 0usize;

    for (provider_ref, model) in &entries {
        println!("  [{}]", provider_ref);

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)

Solutions

Run zeroclaw quickstart or add [model_providers.<alias>] entries
If you passed a provider filter, verify the alias matches a configured key exactly
Re-run the configured-models listing

Example fix

# zeroclaw.toml — before
# (no model_providers section)

# after
[model_providers.openai]
model = "gpt-4o"
uri = "https://api.openai.com/v1"
api_key = "sk-..."

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if config.providers.models.is_empty() {
    anyhow::bail!("run `zeroclaw quickstart` or add [model_providers.<alias>] first");
}
zeroclaw_runtime::doctor::run_configured_models(&config, override.as_deref(), false).await?;

Type guard

fn has_configured_model_entries(config: &zeroclaw_config::schema::Config, filter: Option<&str>) -> bool {
    match filter.map(str::trim).filter(|f| !f.is_empty()) {
        Some(f) => config.providers.models.contains_key(f),
        None => !config.providers.models.is_empty(),
    }
}

Try / catch

if let Err(err) = zeroclaw_runtime::doctor::run_configured_models(&config, override.as_deref(), verify).await {
    if err.to_string().contains("No configured model_providers") {
        eprintln!("empty result — either no providers exist or the --provider alias matched none");
        return Ok(());
    }
    return Err(err);
}

Prevention

When using a provider filter, confirm the alias exists first — a miss reports as 'no providers', not 'unknown provider'
Bootstrap new environments with zeroclaw quickstart before running model tooling

When it happens

Trigger: Fresh install with no [model_providers.*] entries; or a provider override whose alias matches no configured provider key, making the filtered entry list empty.

Common situations: First run in a new container or data dir; a typo'd --provider alias producing a misleading "no providers" message instead of a not-found error.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/64cca10f4143d8cf. Report an issue: GitHub.